Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-05-07
THE HERMIT KINGDOM.
ROYALTYS LIFE IN THE CAPITAL
OF COREA.

ment Buildings.
] is not SO easy to get glimpse of royalty
In Corea as it is in countries partaking more
Of tie western nature Of civilization. The
king does not occupy the place of a God to
the Coreans exactly, as some have stated, but
he does act as a very exalted high priest, and
in that capacity he sacrifices to heaven for
his people IN times Of distress, as during the
recent cholera epidemic. He is never seen by
his common subjects excepting on certain
occasions, when he goes to worship at the
shrines of his ancestors. On these occasions
the streets are cleared of the merchant booths
and all other distractions; fresh yellow clay
Is spread over the road, mounted and foot
police Keep the crowd in order, and the king
passes by in a procession Of near q mile in
length. The procession is one of the most
gorgeous spectacles to be seen III the east, and
as modern civilization win be apt soon to
modify it, it is certainly well worth seeing.
Already foreign uniforms and guns are be
ginning to rot, it of some of its barbar;c
splendor.
The king rides in a gorgeous red throne
supported on the shoulders Of thirty-two
men. The carriage is open and his majesty
can be seen by all Usually the crown prince
follows in similar chair, and very rarely
the queen is borne along in closed chair SO
arranged that she can see out but cannot be
seen herself The kings conveyance is pre-
ceded by large bodies Of soldiers in brass he'll
NETS and red arn,or made Of thickly padded
cloth covered with metal plates. Bodies Of
these gorgeous warriors are broken by COM
panics of officers from the palace and
eunuchs. These men wear the peculiar court
dress which is dark green robe Of gauge or
figured silk, according to rank and season,
with an embroidered shield upon the back
and breast, denoting, by the figures worked
upon it, the RAM; Of the wearer. These flow
ing garments are held i'll place by large
belt of fancily carved wood, tortoise shell or
gold set with costly stones. The hat is pc
culiar and hard to describe. II is like a trun-
Gated cone with piece taken out Of the
front, and two wings projecting from the
back. 1t is woven of silk and horse hair and
is quito open and light.
4 PICTUREsQE SIGHT
The kings conveyance in this procession is
Immediately surrounded by the modern SOL
diers with foreign rifles, and clothes made
something after the foreign cut, of purple,
dark red and black calico They usually have
numbers of flaming red banners and present a
most picturesque sight, while another body of
men make a deafening noise by shaking poles
supporting small cymbals. Following the
royal conveyances are other bands of ancient
and modern military officers and other repre-
senatives from the palace, with occasionally
a gatling gun. The ancient soldiers have
their own bands, which pour out the weird
monotonous music from flutes, violins and
hourglass shaped drums. But this music
seems rather subdued in the presence Of the
foreign trumpet, which is most faithfully
footed" by the representatives of the modern
battalion. AT first it seems pleasant to hear
our own buge calls in such strange place,
but as we try to catch the notes Of the strange
music beyond, the shril, unsupported and
constant footing" Of our own bugle seems in
solent, and we feel compassion for the old
time strains that are surely stepping aside for
this modern upstart.
Seoul, the capital of Corea, is really looked
upon as part Of the kings household The
palace Enclosures occupy about one-fourth of
the whole space within the ten miles or more
Of city wall, and the streets leading to the
two palaces are fine, broad, we'll rounded
avenues. There are five main gates to the
palace Enclosure which is made by high,
thick, wellbuilt stone some twenty feet high
by eight feet in thickness The corners of
the wall project, and are built of huge
masses Of finely cut stone and are surmounted
by pagoda shaped towers for the guard. The
main gate faces the south and opens upon the
broad street leading into the city and lined
on either side by the extensive compounds
containing the various department Offices.
Passing this gate one enters court of some
six or eight acres. A wide stone pavement
leads to a similar though somewhat smaller
gate on tho opposite side, passing which an
other court is entered surrounded by build
ings ard tI'avcrsed diagonaliy by little
stream with stone emt ankments and stone
bridge spanning it. Near the bridge stone
water animals are carved on huge blocks of
stone so that they seem just ready to pounce
upon some prey i'll the water The stone
railing of the bridge is supported by blocks
OF stone carved to represent budding lotus
flower.
TIE KINGS THRONE.
Passing through another gate, similar to
the two previous ones, and we are in n large
court paved all over with stone. A very
large building arises at the further side from
a base of stone some 6 feet high and sur
mounted by balustrade of stone supported
by stone pillars carved to represent sheaves
OF grain. This building is the reception hail
and contains finely carved throne The
roof is supported by masts some so feet
in length. The ceiling Is made OF panels,
upon which are painted lotus and other flow
ers; in the centre a space is let into the cell
ing, containing the royal dragon in gilt The
steps leading up to the platform around this
edifice have stone dragon in the middle 50
that no one may approach the king in a
straight line. The fine painting under the
very extensive caves Is protected from birds
by huge wire netting that looks like q gigan-
tic spider web.
10 the left OF the reception hall is the sum-
mer pavilion, n finely carved and painted
structure of two stories. situated in large
lake of lotus flowers Tho lake or POND is
surrounded by o stone embankment and o
wall. There are two islands rising out OF the
water and supporting some ornamental
dwarf pines. The pavilion, some 70 feet by
90 is reached BY stone bridges made like the
bridge before described, over the stream
which drains this pond. The second story is
supported on 40 stone pillars set ct intervals
Of feet. These pillars are oil of one piece,
rectangular, about 10 fee. long and IS inches
at the base, tapering to about l foot at the
top Banquets are given in the upper room
q this beautiful house. Back OF these build
ings are the houses where the business of the
palace is conducted and where the ROYAL fam
lily sometimes live
Emperor and Organ Grinder.
His majesty Dom Pedro Of Brazil was re
Gently much amused on landing 1T San Paulo
by being received by an Italian gentleman
with hand organ, who played the rational
air The emperor listened with gravity TO